


Intruder.

by EchoPaulens



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst, Dark Magic, Everyone Is Gay, First chapters are way too short sorry for that, Fuck Harry Potter and JK transphobe here you have some gay fancy magic academy, M/M, Magic Academy, My beta readers trusted no one during the whole fic, be gay do crimes, blood sometimes, but not too much, do i even know how to write short things, hongjoong is stressed, light Violence, nsfw jokes, random dream went too far, schedule is a mess but isn't everything a mess at this point, started as a small thing but will be a long series now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoPaulens/pseuds/EchoPaulens
Summary: Another school year begins at the Dark Magics Academy, but things go wrong easily. What's the reason of the problems? Everything points to the same person.
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 7
Kudos: 34





	1. Welcome.

_Welcome, knowledge-hungry witches and sorcerers, to the Dark Magics Academy. This is your first year here, but our expectations are already high because of the exam you passed a week ago._

_We hope your stay is educational and, as our motto says, let the darkness serve you instead of blinding you._

Those were the principal's words, a man in his forties with a firm bearing and a deep voice, who signaled for his new students to leave once he was done speaking. He was well known for being a powerful wizzard who, in addition to his own power, had other elite sorcerers at his service.

One week, they had one week to get ready before the classes started. The classes at that academy could impress those not used to the world of the magic, for spells and dark magic rituals did not sound like a joke, but for the students present there it was daily bread. They had practiced hard to get in there and they weren't going to stop, magic was part of their life, work and joy.

Furthermore, there were from the most sinister rituals to worldly enchantments.

The first student to get up from the seat was the one we'll call the protagonist, a boy who stood out for his height and his deep red hair; Mingi. He shamelessly stretched and, after patting his face to wake himself up, muttered a sligt "it's done".

By that he meant the opening ceremony, yeah, but he still had things to do in what was left of the day. In that academy they worked in teams of students who had to live with each other during their studies; it wasn't difficult to be paired with someone you already knew but the problem was that Mingi didn't know anyone.

As he walked away from the ceremony venue, what turned out to be a gym, he consulted the document where his residence number was written down. He looked at it over and over again along the way to make sure he wasn't wrong.

The residence gate was huge, just like the rest of the building, clearly prepared for such a large number of people.  
Without even knocking he tried to open the door. These didn't have a key, but they did have a spell attached to their residents; if he got it wrong it could just remain closed or it could give him some negative effect, Mingi wasn't sure about how it worked.

But he hadn't been squandering confidence to hesitate with a door.

Luckily it opened without problems so he took a second to regain the sigh he had been holding.  
Once he entered he came across a less sinister residence than he expected, counting on the type of academy he was in. The large common area was connected to an open kitchen, probably for a lot of people to be together without problems, and there were two hallways that surely led to the bedrooms. They had made a fairly standard house, although the clock in the common room was striking. It seemed to be made of old wood, almost a relic, but the mechanism worked perfectly.

Mingi walked around to see the place and count the bedrooms, it turned out that there would be eight students in the residence. A team of eight didn't sound bad. He was the fist one to arrive, good for him, but he would have to find something to do until some oh his teammates arrived. The normal thing was to arrive on the day of the ceremony, but it was not strange that some students arrived throughout the week.

Teammates. What kind of teammates would he have? Boring? Tetchy? Older or younger than him? The age range to enter was not extensive but curiosity invaded him. He thought about settling in one of the bedrooms, but he chose to wait to see his options since he'd have to share it.

"This is gonna take a while..."

He said to himself seeing the rest was taking long but, as if his voice was jinxed, the door opened just after saying it.

It was a black haired boy who seemed much calmer than Mingi. He was covered with wide clothes but, despite not being excessively tall, he looked corpulent.  
He stared at the redhead as if trying to remember him and ending up sighing.

"You're the one who screamed on the exam."

Mingi didn't answer immediately, trying to remember the other boy. Then he exclaimed.

"Oh, true, we did the exam together!" He chuckled proud of his memory. "What was your name again?"

"Jongho." After saying it he went in just enough to sit on the sofa of the common area. "And it looks like we have to wait together..."

Then the taller one realized that Jongho was not as calm or serious as he thought, once he got closer Mingi noticed he was just tired. The opening ceremony could be exhausting for some students.

"Mingi, I'm Ming..."

He couldn't finish repeating it when a shrill sound interrupted them, causing them both to look towards the door curiously.

"He's worse than you." Jongho chuckled.

Then the doors opened again and two figures appeared. They were two boys who seemed to be having a good time despite the situation and, although they moved nervously, they did not release the hold of their hands.

The first one, whose laughter turned out to be that shrill sound, had black hair and the uniform shirt more open than normal. The other one had black hair too except for a blue lock in his bangs, and despite the situation he never took his eyes off his partner at any time. He almost seemed hypnotized.

"You didn't even tell me that you had passed the exam and it turns out that they put us together!" Said the first one, calming his laughter.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but I did not plan this..."

The second one said that in a cheerful tone, although aware of the fuss his partner was making. It was then that he became aware of the presence of the other two, who were staring at them.

"Wooyoung, we're not alone."

"Ah?" Finally his tone of voice dropped. "Someone arrived before us!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you readed the first chapter some time before this one was posted I recommend you take a look at it again, I had to change some things from it!

Those two boys broke the tranquility of the place, especially the boy who had just been identified as Wooyoung. Mingi couldn't help noticing that his eyes were pink, just like his own.

It was not uncommon for a wizard's eyes to take on a strange color when his magic manifested, many believed that there was a hidden meaning in it. Those of Jongho for example were lilaceous.

However the redhead had no time to think about it, the entrance of the others had managed to make him laugh under his breath.

"Nice. I’m Mingi, he’s Jongho.” He pointed at the other. "And you are...?"

At that moment the two scandalous boys looked at each other, without turning away from the door, and started something that they seemed to have done many times before. The one with the blue lock looked at the redhead and extended an arm, completely serious. At that moment he could see his pure red eyes.

"Woo!" He screamed.

"San!" Wooyoung replied, putting his outstretched arm over the other's.

"Cross!" They both said at the same time at the end.

The one with the blue lock seemed to start screaming just like his partner, but once they finished that gesture he resigned to explain themselves.

"Exactly! I am San and he is Wooyoung! A pleasure!"

Then they both bowed as if it were a formal presentation, but something interrupted their emotion. A loud snort made them turn around, aware that there was someone they were not letting in.

"You've been like this since you've seen each other at the entrance..." Said the voice of a third boy. "I'm tired of being the only normal one, give me a break."

The other two laughed a little and pulled away, giving way to someone Mingi assumed they already knew. It was a boy with light brown hair. His eyes were black although they were adorned by a white stripe. He showed a different tired face than Jongho, he was mentally tired because of the other two.

It almost looked like his energy had been stolen by them, but this was a spell that no one present knew yet.

"I’m Yeosang." He finally introduced himself, directing his gaze towards Mingi and Jongho. "I hope you have more braincells than they do."

“Ignore him. He's still mad that we tried a spell on his dinner.” San added. "He actually adores us."

"I loved my dinner more than I loved you." Yeosang said in a clearly annoyed tone. "You owe me another one, huh."

It didn't take long for a discussion to start on the topic, a discussion that was getting stupider at times. It wasn’t uncomfortable for Mingi, rather the opposite. On one hand he was discovering what his new companions were like and he was having a laugh.

And on the other hand Mingi loved to argue.

For a moment everyone present forgot the passage of time, they were all settled in the common room talking about possessed fried chicken as the night fell on them.  
Tick tock, the hands of the clock kept moving until they were both pointing up. It was then that a shrill sound indicated that the next hour had arrived, bringing them back to reality.

The first reaction was a scream from Mingi as he did not expect that old clock to ring that loud. The rest were scared more by the redhead than by the sound itself.

"Holy shit, and I thought you couldn't scream more than Wooyoung." San said in amazement.

He laughed a little then, though at his side Yeosang seemed to have a revelation. He was going to spend his entire stay at the academy with Wooyoung and someone who was screaming like him. He began to accept his death, or at least that of his ears.  
Wooyoung himself realized this and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him support. At least he was aware of how much he screamed.

"It's starting to get late, huh?" Jongho said getting up from the chair he was in. "I don't think anyone is going to serve us dinner."

"We are few." San added. "I don't know if there are a lot of people missing, but I doubt they will arrive today."

"Then we can hand out rooms." Yeosang added without hesitation, as if that had brought him out of his hardships.

The truth was that everyone thought about it, if the rest of the members did not like where they had to sleep ... they should have arrived earlier. Seeing that there was no one against it, Mingi spoke up.

"I've had a look before, there are four rooms with two beds in each." He explained, aware that he was the only one who explored the residence. "We have to decide who will share a room."

"Then there will be eight of us?" Wooyoung asked.

"Wooyoung can go with San." Yeosang said ignoring the other's question. "They're going to end up in the same bed anyway, this way no one else will have to suffer it."

At that moment Wooyoung opened his mouth and stood up to say something, but San pulled his hand down to sit him down again. There were no complaints, Yeosang was right.

But after that there was silence. There were three people who did not know each other, an odd number. Mingi was about to say something but Yeosang was ahead of him.

"I'm not going to be left alone. What if it's a sinister stranger or a fetishist? No way."

"Hey! What about us?! Can we really be with a shady stranger?!" Mingi exclaimed.

"Sshh." Jongho made that noise loud enough to shut them both up. "We will play a game. Whoever loses stays with the mysterious fetishist."

"Good. I have never lost a game in my life." The redhead said at the proposal.

…

. . .

Several rounds were played and Mingi lost, of course.

“We won!”

Jongho's first reaction was to pick up Yeosang and hug him, even lifting him off the ground. That surprised Yeo, of course, he was not expecting it in any way. It could be seen from his face that he was not used to this treatment, but he did not seem bothered.

When his feet returned to the ground and Jongho released him, the first thing he saw was Mingi looking at a fixed point. Instead of a game to distribute rooms it seemed that the other had lost a bet on his soul.

"So you haven't lost in your life..." Jongho said. "This is a historic moment then."

The redhead pretended to laugh at the comment, but that didn't excite him in the least. He was going to share a room with a random stranger, he was convinced that he would be the worst person in the entire academy. It felt like in those video games where, if you didn't recruit the character you wanted in time, a strange and horrible replaced them.

"Come on, you can choose the room you want." Yeosang said, trying to comfort him a little.

"They are all exactly the same, I don't think..." Wooyoung added.

But he couldn't finish that sentence before Mingi got his things and went straight to one of the rooms. He simply kept the one closest to the common area, especially the kitchen. Since he couldn't choose his partner at least he was going to be close to the food.

He put his things down next to one of the beds and then looked outside.

Oh no.

There were separate hallways with two rooms in each one, and the other four went to the other one. He was not alone with a stranger, he was with three of them. Had that Yeosang proposal been a trap? Had he played with him? He felt betrayed by a boy he had known for less than an hour... Pain.

He decided to go and judge those who had abandoned him and went to his rooms, entering the first one he saw.

"Thanks for selling me, huh." He said opening the door.

"Don't be so dramatic." Wooyoung said. "It won't be that bad."

That was the room Wooyoung and San chose, apparently, even though there was only one of them. The redhead came in and sat on one of the beds. The other boy was opening the suitcase, took out a single garment and closed it again as if nothing had happened.

It was a black hoodie, although the hood had two eyes and a mouth with sharp fangs drawn in white. It was just a print, but Mingi felt for a moment as if that piece of clothing was really looking at him.

At first Mingi believed that the other would put the hoodie on but he didn't, he just left it on one of the hangers.

"Do you feel like helping your new partner make dinner?" Wooyoung said, grabbing the redhead by the sleeve and yanking on him. "I have no fucking idea where things are, I'm going to have to search the entire kitchen."

"You're going to need someone to look in closets that are too high for you." Mingi replied as he stood up.

"Ha. Ha. Hilarious." The black-haired boy began to go towards the common area. "As soon as you let your guard down I'm going to stab you in the knees, watch out." The redhead laughed, and not falsely like the other before him.

As he followed the other he noticed the other side of the hall; Yeosang and Jongho were in their room while San seemed to be in the bathroom. It was going to be just him with Wooyoung, what could go wrong?

Well.

Apparently many things could go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "King Yeosang".  
> -Cryptid Reader.


	3. Chapter 3

Making dinner didn't sound like a difficult task, much less to someone fond of cooking like Wooyoung.

The plan had been easy, the execution not so much.

Just over ten minutes had passed since he and Mingi began preparing dinner for the five present at the residence, but the disaster came and was more than noticeable to the other residents.

Jongho had finished putting on some comfortable clothes while his roommate, Yeosang, lay quietly in bed doing nothing. Suddenly a shrill screech from the redhead invaded the entire building, followed by more and more screaming. It was Jongho who came out to the common room to make sure the two boys there were alright.

No, they were not alright.

Mingi's pants burned. The pants were literally on fire.

"HOW DID YOU DO THIS?! YOU'RE JUST MAKING AN OMELETTE!”

"DO YOU THINK I'M ON FIRE BY OWN DECISION?! I DON'T KNOW HOW I DID IT!”

Jongho quickly approached, if they continued like this the redhead's legs would be burned in a moment, he took a jug of water that was on the table and poured it over the other. Mingi screamed again, frightened by the tension of the moment.

Silence, there was a couple of seconds in silence while the two wonderful cooks analyzed the situation.

"Your omelette will burn, stop staring at each other." Jongho finally commented. "And you should change your pants."

Although Jongho's tone was calm and serious, he was smiling. He clearly tried to hold back his laughter.

"Thank goodness you haven't set fire to the uniform." Wooyoung added at last, giggling a bit and looking back at the food being made.

"They would replace my uniform, but I liked these pants, uh..." Mingi looked down at his burned and now soaked pants.

"Better to lose the pants than the legs."

Yeosang's contribution managed to capture the attention of the three, since they had not realized when he arrived. Both he and San were going towards them, Yeosang sat next to the kitchen table while the other went directly to Wooyoung. The other gave him a taste of some of the ingredients he was using and San smiled at him, more happy for the other feeding him than for the food itself.

“Have they really left us so much food? I thought they would make us buy it or something.” Yeosang spoke again.

"It is because we are in the first week. We will have to make the purchase on the days off.”

"There are several towns near the Academy that we can..." Mingi began to speak.

"Why are you still here? You're going to soak the ground.”

Wooyoung’s interruption made him pout, after a couple of seconds the redhead finally went to his bedroom to change his pants. The first thing he did was remove the ones he was wearing and put them on the floor, but then he realized that he had not unmade the suitcase. He opened it and began to look for some comfortable ones, although for what was left of the day he ended up putting on his pajamas.

"What a first impression you have made." He told himself.

Although deep down he did not care too much, an entire academic year with his classmates was not going to be decided the first night they met.

Finally he went to the door to return to his companions but stopped his steps before opening it, directing his gaze towards that bed next to his. Once again he stopped to think about the stranger who would use it, he did not want to share a room with the shady fetishist like Yeosang said.

What if a troublesome warlock practitioner of illegal magic entered? What if he used him as a sacrifice in one of his rituals? Mingi could not stop thinking about the worst possibilities, he was going to have a heart attack if he did not soon discover who it was.

He left and went to the bathroom next to his room, which he would share with two other sinister and fetishistic strangers who were going to sacrifice him in a forbidden ritual.

He decided to assume that this would be his companions, if he was wrong it would be a positive surprise.

He turned on the tap water and cooled his face a bit, trying not to think about the stranger. Well, neither in the stranger nor in which he had almost burned out for an omelette. Finally he looked at himself in the mirror.

“Come on, cutie, you can do this. Survive at least the first night. ”

He was about to say something else but then he heard a laugh. It wasn't very shrill so it wasn't Wooyoung, but it was right next to him. When he looked there he saw Jongho. He gestured for the redhead to wait, as if he wanted to stop laughing before speaking to him.

"Did you really just call yourself a cutie?" He said at last.

“When did you get here? Am I going to live with a bunch of ninjas…?”

"I just got there but you were more focused on the mirror."

Jongho shrugged his shoulders. Actually he was surprised by the redhead's character, when he saw someone so tall and with those sharp features he thought he would be more serious. But no, he turned out to be an easy-to-scare boy, adorable and awkward.

Finally Mingi came out of the bathroom and the first thing the other did was pick him up, without even warning, and threw him over his shoulder.

"JONGHOOOOOOOOOO!" Shouted the redhead, between scared and laughing. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

But the other did not answer him, just went to the living room.

"Attention, here comes a giant cutie!" Jongho exclaimed upon reaching the common area.

Wooyoung was more focused putting the finishing touches on his wonderful rice, but the other two couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Although it was as if only one had done it, Yeosang's decent laugh was completely overshadowed by San's dolphin noises.

Finally Jongho left the redhead on the sofa without any care, his groan would have sounded like one of those plastic toys when you squeeze them... if it wasn't for the deep tone of Mingi's voice.

After that, it was Yeosang who sat on the same sofa, pushing the redhead a bit as he did so.

"You better enjoy your night alone. Who knows if the dreaded mystery boy will arrive tomorrow?”

"As much as you say things like that, you're not going to scare me, you know that."

But the redhead was already more than scared at the time.

"Make way for today's magnificent dinner!" San shouted, approaching with several bowls of that rice. "From Chef Wooyoung!"

Wooyoung himself brought the rest of the food to the table in the common room, clapping himself a little.

The truth was, the pants incident hadn't been the only one. In the process of finding the materials, Mingi and Wooyoung had thrown many things, lost others, and even hit each other. But that was a secret that would remain between the two of them.

At least until one of them yelled it.

"Not bad for our first dinner together." Jongho said as he took a seat in one of the chairs.

Finally everyone sat around that table to taste the food Wooyoung had made, some more securely than others. The first to eat was San, whose exaggerated reaction of satisfaction managed to activate the chef's shrill laugh. After that everyone began to eat and the night continued to progress.

Casual comments, quiet conversation accompanied dinner until Wooyoung remembered something.

"Hm, you know? Teams usually have a leader…” He paused for a moment to look at his teammates. “It should be one of us, right? We have arrived first.”

"It should be me." Yeosang said. "I'm the most normal here, from what I've seen."

"What exactly does a team leader do?" Mingi asked. "I wouldn't mind."

"As far as I know, he is the one who represents the team and acts as a spokesperson." Jongho added.

"It shouldn't be me." Yeosang corrected himself before continuing to eat.

Wooyoung and San both laughed at that, a combination of laughs that must have been heard even in the next door residence. Or at least that's what Mingi thought, who wasn't exactly silent either.

The residence next door. From what he understood they would be his classmates, maybe they should go say hi to them before classes begin.

"We'll think about the leader thing later." Finally said the redhead. "There is plenty of time for it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just a chill short chapter but I hope you enjoyed it uwu


	4. Chapter 4

It was the first day Mingi woke up at the academy, his first official day as a student there.

The day before had been quiet, he had met some of his classmates and had had a proper dinner. There was not much magic factor despite the place where they were, something that the redhead appreciated.

Unlike most of the students there, he did not belong to a family of sorcerers.

Oh, how many terror he caused when he discovered he could do magic, especially to himself.

He was the boy who managed to learn the secrets of magic for himself, the huge redhead who entered the prestigious Academy of Dark Magics despite being the son of non-magicians. The one who was still in his bed in the late hours of the morning.

Even the screams of his companions during breakfast didn’t motivate him enough to get out from under the covers. There was no class, there was no rush, why would he get up?

Oh. Right

The day before something was mentioned about exploring the academy, he was interested on that.

…

No, that was not enough either.

At a certain point he heard the rest calling him, something he chose to ignore as he hugged the pillow closer. Finally someone knocked on his door, entering instantly without waiting for permission.

San.

"Are you in a coma?" He said in a rather childish tone. "We are not leaving without you, we must act as a team!"

The redhead's response was a strange noise, he was clearly half asleep. At this the other approached to get him out of bed.

The one with the blue lock was prepared to have to lift Mingi, he was someone big so San would have to draw strength and...

Well, no. As soon as he bent down next to the other to catch him, the redhead hugged him, as if he had done it without thinking. San only had to get up a little to get him to sit on the bed.

"Come on, we want to finish before lunchtime."

"Ugh..."

Cute, San thought. The other resigned himself and ended up getting out of bed, although still remarkably asleep.

"Get dressed, come on, we're waiting for you."

He said that in a soft tone before leaving the room and leaving Mingi alone again.

He wanted to go back to bed, to be honest, but he ended up going for clothes to put on. He looked around and finally saw his suitcase, went towards it to get something to wear... and slipped.

With what? With the wet pants he threw to the floor yesterday. He did not clean it because it was late when they finished dinner, there was his punishment.

Luckily it was not a major blow, he fell on his ass. He just crawled a little until he was sitting in front of the suitcase and started looking for some clothes.

Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes... The time passed until he finally finished dressing and went out to the common area.

He decided to give in to the atmosphere of the academy and dress only in black clothes, highlighting a trench coat of said color. It was rather thin and was closed with a belt, clearly showing the shape of the redhead's body.

He caught the attention of all his companions as he appeared, who were quietly around the sofa. It was not expected that the one who took so long to get up would give such importance to his wardrobe.

For his part, Mingi only saw four companions who had been waiting for him. Nothing especially caught his attention other than Wooyoung, who was wearing that hoodie he took out of the suitcase in front of the redhead the night before.

"How long have you been awake...?" Mingi asked as he went to the kitchen. "There is no class, you should rest more."

"Everyone will think so." Yeosang said. "That is why we are going to explore today, there will be nobody."

He said that with a slight smile, proud. Clearly it had been his idea.

He seemed to be calmer than the day before, less angry at his possessed fried chicken. Nice.

Mingi opened the fridge and saw... nothing. Nothing that he didn't have to cook. But there was no time to cook. He decided to trust that there would be some kind of cafeteria at the academy.

He was wrong.

They spent a long time walking, investigating the place and greeting possible companions, but there was nothing to eat or drink.  
What kind of torture was that? They were on their way to the material warehouses when the redhead complained again.

"Do they expect us to go around the world without eating anything?" He said in a higher tone than he should have.

“The residences are next to the classroom area. If you didn't eat it was your fault.” Wooyoung replied. "Get up earlier, huh."

Mingi looked at the shorter man with the intention of complaining, or rather making excuses, but then he saw something strange.  
San's hand was on Wooyoung's back, something very normal. What was unusual was that the eyes drawn on the other's hoodie seemed to be looking at that hand, the redhead did not remember it that way.

Was the print like this? Did he see it wrong last night?

He was about to talk about it, but decided to omit it when he saw that all his companions seemed surprised by something. He understood when he looked straight ahead.

The material warehouse sounded like a boring place, but that idea changed when they had it in front of them. True, their base consisted of large shelves and files, but nature seemed to have joined them. Flowers, trees, and even some magical insects haunted the area.

The latter made the redhead laugh a little under his breath, although it was the opposite of a happy laugh.

Insects.

They hadn't even entered the warehouse and he could already see them prowling inside the warehouse. It was going to be like stepping into a magical forest of bookshelves, but accompanied by a bunch of tiny, filthy critters. Suddenly the place had lost all attraction for Mingi.

"I won't go in there." He said totally convinced.

"You’ll have to enter sooner or later, better to do it with company." Jongho replied.

At that moment the other three began to advance, ready to enter the place, while Jongho took Mingi by the arm and pulled him. The redhead was making every effort to avoid it, but the other boy's strength was amazing. At a certain point he went to the opposite strategy, hiding behind him.

As if it was possible that someone of Mingi's height could hide behind anyone present.

They were a few meters behind Wooyoung, San, and Yeosang. It was then that the redhead saw it.

"It just blinked." He muttered.

"Huh?"

"Wooyoung's hoodie just blinked."

Jongho didn’t know what to say because he had never seen bewitched clothes to judge... Oh, nevermind, it blinked again.

They both stopped their steps.

San and Yeosang did not react, they seemed to be used to it. Obviously. They knew Wooyoung from before so they should also know that he had that thing.

"Hey!" Jongho suddenly yelled. "We'll take a look on this side!"

And then he pointed to the hallways in the opposite direction. The others seemed puzzled, since the idea was to investigate together, but Yeosang ended up nodding and answering.

"Okay, don't get lost in here!"

"See you outside!" Wooyoung added, screaming a lot more than his partner.

Tap, tap, tap. The three of them kept walking while Jongho and Mingi waited. Finally the shorter one reacted and started to walk in the indicated direction, causing the redhead to follow him.

"Should we ask about it?" Mingi said.

"It doesn't seem dangerous. Maybe it's just a hoodie that moves.” The other said with complete calm. "Although it's creepy, I'm not going to lie."

"So creepy."

Once they moved a little further and stopped thinking about it they began to focus on what was around them. Despite the shelves, boxes and files that was beautiful, the magical flowers that grew there were part of the material, surely.

They kept going until suddenly the contents in those boxes changed. Jongho didn't have time to process it before the redhead screamed.

Oh. It was the section of... How to say it? Life. There were rituals that required small sacrifices. So it was an area full of lizards and bugs of different types.

Jongho couldn't help but laugh as the redhead grabbed his arm, but then the voice of a stranger caught their attention.

"Are you always scaring people like that?!"

Oh. They hadn't even noticed that there were more students in that hall, but when that boy spoke they couldn't help but look up at him.

The one who had spoken was shorter than the rest of the boys present and his hair was also red, although less intense than Mingi's. He had golden eyes and, at that moment, a snake in his hand.

It was a black and red snake, known as a _Breath’s Thief_. They were reputed to feed on the souls of the deceased, but for a sorcerer it was a powerful source of life.

Although Mingi stared at the animal, Jongho did notice that there was another boy. He was taller than himself, though no taller than Mingi. He had black hair and red eyes, a shade duller than San's. He looked like someone... elegant? Jongho was unclear about the word that defined him, but that guy certainly caught his attention.

He also noticed that he carried two suitcases with him, while his partner only carried a backpack.  
There was an awkward silence as Mingi and Jongho analyzed the two strangers, which is why the shorter redhead ended up sighing.

"What kind of wizard is scared of a bug?"

"Don't be mean to him, Joong." Added the other boy.

"What kind of wizard comes the second day and goes straight for a snake?" Mingi replied, ignoring the other's attempt to avoid an argument.

"Ignore him, he's just stupid." Jongho said later. "A scared kitty."

"He’s too tall to be a kitty." The other redhead laughed, the one his partner called Joong.

"And you're too short to give so much trouble." Mingi replied.

Joong said nothing. He removed the backpack on his back and dropped it on the floor, something to which his partner snorted.

"There he goes." The dark-haired man said in a tired tone.

Then the boy approached the other two and extended his arm, dangerously bringing that snake closer to Mingi.

Of course he screamed, his first reflection was to put Jongho in front to defend himself. Jongho did not react, he was not afraid of the snake.

Joong was about to say something else but his partner cut him off, specifically the sound he made as he dropped both suitcases.

"Enough show, Hongjoong. He was just scared."

_Oh, that's his full name_ , Jongho thought.

Then Hongjoong pulled the animal aside and returned to his companion, ready to pick up the backpack that he had released moments before. But then he saw his friend staring at him, like a parent about to lecture his son.

"Come on, Seonghwa..."

The other said nothing. At that Hongjoong sighed, looking back at Jongho and Mingi.

"Sorry I put a snake on your face." He laughed a little, trying to play down the matter.

"Perfect." Seonghwa said instantly. "Now that it's fixed..."

He rummaged in his pockets for something, a piece of paper that he took out and unfolded. Then he took a few steps toward the other two.

"We came here first because of an emergency, but now we should go to the residence. Do you know where it is…? ”

When he showed them the paper Jongho couldn't help but laugh a little, as he predicted his partner's reaction. Mingi took a moment to breathe deeply before resting his forehead on Jongho's shoulder.

He was going to have a bloody Breath’s Thief snake in the room next to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "A snake! Oh my god it's Wonpil!"  
> -Cryptid Reader.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic's gonna have no beta readers from now on so yeah sorry about the random weirg things

It turned out those two strangers were from the same team as Mingi and Jongho, so the latter soon told them that they could go back to the residences together. It was an obvious idea, somewhat simple, but they did not have all the material that Hongjoong needed from the warehouse.

He kept everything he took in strange jars, including that snake from moments before. He kept them in the backpack he carried on his back, so it was not difficult for Mingi to discover why they were carrying so much luggage.

What were they planning to do with all of it? It was too much material to use at once.

The other two boys were just following them and watching, expecting to understand what the hell was all that shit for at some point (it didn’t happen). While Seonghwa was helping his friend reach some materials from the high shelves, something happened.

Something moved around the two standing boys, the first reaction to it was a screech coming from Mingi, who skillfully moved Jongho to use him as a shield. The youngest just laughed a bit.

“What is it? Another snake?”

Jongho was pretty confident when he said it, but then he looked at the thing.

A beetle. A pure black beetle was flying towards them.

“OH SHIT.”

Oh, how the tables turned. Jongho suddenly moved and left Mingi unprotected from the evil and terrifying bug. In just a moment the scene became just a mix of screams and pathetic reactions from both guys on one side. On the other side you could see Seonghwa struggling while he holded up Hongjoong for him to reach what he needed and wasn’t able to find.

Finally it happened, Jongho collided with Seonghwa.

“Got it –”

That was the only thing Hongjoong managed to say before falling to the floor, right on top of the one who was holding him until moments before.

Mingi would have laughed if he wasn’t still running away from the stupid bug.

* * *

“Why are they taking so long?” Yeosang said while getting more and more comfortable on the sofa. 

“Maybe they got lost.” Wooyoung replied. “Have you seen them? They look like pure disaster.”

“You’re a pure disaster.”

They were there, doing absolutely nothing. Yeosang occupied the entire sofa while playing some game on his phone, Wooyoung was sitting in one of the nearby armchairs staring at the ceiling.

San went to the bathroom as soon as they came back to the residence, he wanted to take a shower after walking through the weird bookshelves forest.

The only sound in the whole place was the one of the falling water behind a closed door, at least until a shrill scream rang out from outside. Someone really shouted with all their lungs out there, it even alarmed the two boys in the common room.

“Did someone die…?” Yeosang said after closing the game he was playing, walking towards the residence doors. “Should we do something?”

“I don’t wanna be an accomplice of murder, you know.” Wooyoung replied without even moving, even closing his eyes. “Maybe it’s just Mingi.”

“It didn’t sound like Mingi.”

Finally Yeosang opened the door and looked around. More than scared he was curious. Luckily there was no murder out there, only two boys. Their height difference was the first thing that got his attention, to be honest.

A pretty tall boy (not more than Mingi though) was uselessly punching a shorty. Both of them had blonde hair, and Yeosang couldn’t see their eyes from there. He went out and closed the door behind him, assuming Wooyoung would still be ascending to another dimension or something.

“Are you guys alright?” He said in a soft, shy tone.

“Oh, look what you did.” The shortest one said, looking at Yeo. “We are already drawing attention because of you.”

“I wouldn’t scream if you didn’t find it funny to scare me!” The other one replied.

“But it is funny!”

“Listen.” Then the tall one crouched down to match the other’s height. “If It weren’t for the laws of this academy, I would have–”

“Ahem.” Yeosang let out a fake cough. “Since you’re okay…”

He planned to go back inside, but then another fucking idiot decided to scream near them. And it did sound like Mingi this time. It made the tall blonde guy scream too, clearly scared since he didn’t expect it.

“I’m surrounded by clowns.”

That was the only thing Yeosang said before looking at the street-looking-like place where the residences were. He saw the giant red spot that Mingi was and someone he assumed was Jongho, but there were more people. One of them was another red spot, but tiny.

They made some friends, nice. But they were still a bit far from the residence.

He looked back at the two blondies while signaling to the arriving ones.

“Sorry about that, he’s my teammate.”

Then the shorty took a moment to process the information he just recieved.

“Wait, wait. You came out of this residence.” He said.

“Yeah?” 

“So you– You’re staying in this residence?”

“Obviously.”

“Oh.” He replied.

“Oh!” The tall one said. “Then we’ll be classmates! We’re at the next residence!”

* * *

San entered the shower when there were only two students in the common room. When he came out in his best sports clothes there was Wooyoung, the two guys they were waiting for and two more he didn’t know.

As soon as he entered the room Seonghwa’s gaze fell on him, but none of them commented on it even if it was easy to notice. The only reaction was an awkward smile from Seonghwa.

“Oh, there he is!” Wooyoung suddenly shouted. “This is San! San, say hi to our teammates!”

“Teammates?"

"Yeah! We found them in the weird, bug infested hell." Mingi replied.

Then both of the new boys got up, Seonghwa making a slight reverence while the red haired just waved with his hand.

"It looks like we're a lot of people here." Hongjoong said. "Eight, you said?" Then he looked at Mingi.

The tallest one just nodded.

"Well. I'm San, but I guess they already told you." He said, approaching the rest of the group.

"Seonghwa." The black haired one answered in a soft tone. "Park Seonghwa, and he's Hongjoong."

"So… You already know each other. Cool, just like us–" Then San directed his gaze to Wooyoung. Only Wooyoung. Someone was missing. "Where's Yeosang…?"

"Oh." Mingi spoke again. "When we arrived he was following two guys into another residence. Weird, right?"

"Did he just–" Wooyoung didn't know about it. He didn't question where his best friend was until then. "Did he just leave without telling us?"

"At least we know where he is." Jongho added. "Not like he suddenly disappeared."

Then silence invaded the place. Should they just wait? Go find him? Call him? No, he left his phone in the residence, it was on the table in front of them.

Oh, Kang Yeosang. He wasn’t exactly the most sociable person in the room, why did he decide to suddenly befriend those boys?

“I think we should– You know, get all of this to our room.” Hongjoong said, breaking the silence. Then he exaggeratedly waved his hands to signal to all the suitcases, bags and random jars that didn’t fit in them.

“Yes. We should.” Seonghwa added in a kinda robotic voice, he sounded like his mind was somewhere else. It took him a few seconds to actually react. “Oh! Sure! Yeah!”

“How many things happened while I was showering…?” San muttered to himself.

It was the last thing Mingi heard before standing up too, he had to guide the other two to their room since he lost a random game again. They left the rest of the team talking in the common area, deciding who should go to find Yeosang. The silence in the hallway was even comforting.

“So… we’re gonna sleep wall to wall.” Mingi started to say.

“I won’t let the snake escape, if it’s what you’re worried about.” Joong laughed a bit.

“I was gonna say that you can call me if you need something, but fuck you and your snake.” Then he looked at the other boy, the black haired one. He looked incredibly tired. “Not you, unless you’re another snake or something.”

Then Mingi put his hand on the other’s shoulder, a gentle gesture that seemed harmless. But when it happened Seonghwa suddenly dropped the suitcase he was holding, he was clearly trying to contain an expression of pain.

“Oh shit! I’m sorry! Are you okay?!” Mingi instantly said, helping the other getting the suitcase from the floor. “I didn’t know–”

“There was no way for you to know I’m hurt.” Seonghwa took a deep breath, trying to keep a friendly tone of voice.

Then he went directly to his new room, something that left the two red haired boys alone. They were both surprised, Seonghwa seemed so calm and cold at the same time.

“I’m… I’m going there too, yeah.” Hongjoong finally spoke after some seconds of uncomfortable silence. “I’ll see if he’s okay, go with the rest and– I don't know, don't worry about this.”

He also talked in a calm tone but it didn’t comfort Mingi, it did the opposite. He fucked up. Well, he fucked up again. His first day's impression was absolutely awful.

But then he gave himself a moment to think a bit. Seonghwa lifted up Hongjoong moments before without a problem. Maybe he hurt himself when Jongho made them fall in the warehouse.

Mingi finally reacted and decided to go back to the common room.

"Don't think about it." He muttered to himself. "It's nothing serious. Probably. He's okay."

He kept saying those things, but then he sat next to Jongho on the sofa.

"I think we broke him." He said.

Luckily no one paid attention to him. The other three were discussing if they should go to the mysterious residence of the two guys who kidnapped Yeo.

Yeah, kidnapped. They kinda assumed too much.

"What if we see something we shouldn't? What if they get us too?" Jongho said.

"I don't think they can get you. Like–" San signaled at the other’s body. "You'll easily beat the shit out of them."

"Do I look like an aggressive animal to you?"

"Uh, oh. No! Of course not! I just said–"

"Hey!" Wooyoung suddenly shouted. "Focus! Yeosang!"

"They seem friendly." Mingi said, confused. The other three were way too alarmed. "I don't think he's in danger."

"Oh, we got a volunteer." San spoke.

"Wait, what?"

"So bold of you, Mingi!" Jongho added. "Say hi to our neighbours like– in the name of the team."

"Did you just–"

"Don't forget to bring your phone." Wooyoung suddenly sounded relaxed. "Don't be like him."

Oh, those fuckers.

They just wanted Mingi to be the one who moved his ass out of the residence. They weren’t worried, they were lazy.

The red haired looked at them, none seemed to have even a bit of mercy for him.

"I hate all of you." He finally said while standing up. "I'll stay with the other team. They're my team now."

"You don’t know them." Jongho muttered.

"That can change! And it will 'cause you wanted to!" He shouted while going to the entrance door. "You did this!"

"Good luck with your new team, but tell Yeosang to come back." Wooyoung was waving at Mingi with his hand. "Tell him we're gonna buy a nice dinner or something."

"I won’t forget this betrayal."

Those were Mingi's last words before opening the door and going out. The residence next to theirs should be their classmates one, at least for some subjects.

The Academy wanted to see each wizard's potential, so some classes would have the students mixed and apart from their teams.

Mingi hated the idea, actually. He didn't want to meet even more creepy guys who could curse his ass, something weird since he was in the  _ Dark Magics  _ Academy.

He just hated the vibes. The red haired loved magic and learning it, but oh the place's vibes were atrocious for someone who learned magic on his own.

But, uh, yeah. Back to the matter. Yeosang.

He looked like an introvert and quiet boy to Mingi, why would he go to their neighbours residence in the first place?

"You're really making me–"

He started to mutter but then a door opened. It was him, Yeo came out of the building and saved Mingi from actually doing things.

"I love this guy." He thought out loud before starting to run towards his teammate. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many time passed since the last time I updated this fic lmao, I'm sorry. I'm just gonna update whenever I get the chapters done, no schedule or pressure 'cause mental health doesn't like that. 
> 
> Anyways
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter, see you on the next one!


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